Light rail could solve Missouri mass transit problem

Sunday

Aug 24, 2008 at 12:01 AMAug 24, 2008 at 4:44 AM

With a light rail starter line on the table in Kansas City and a complementary regional transit system that would include Eastern Jackson County in discussion, riding a commuter train into downtown Kansas City and other locations may become a reality.

Michael Glover

With a light rail starter line on the table in Kansas City and a complementary regional transit system that would include Eastern Jackson County in discussion, riding a commuter train into downtown Kansas City and other locations may become a reality.

The Kansas City Council voted to hold a Nov. 4 election on a light-rail starter route. It said the starter line should be a 12-mile route funded by a three-eighth cent sales tax increase. The sales tax would begin April 1 and last for 25 years.

The route is estimated to cost about $600 million and stretches from Vivion Road-North Oak Trafficway in the Northland to downtown, on to the Country Club Plaza then east to Prospect Avenue.

The starter line in Kansas City could eventually work with a Missouri-side regional rail and bus system.

An earlier plan to have a regional transit plan funded by sales taxes in Jackson, Platte and Clay counties was scrapped because the counties could not get the plan formulated in time to hold a vote in November.

Instead, the Mid-America Regional Council is organizing the three counties to work together to build a regional system that would complement the light-rail system in Kansas City.

“There are two very important and highly integrated transit initiatives under way in the Kansas City region,” a presentation at a July 25 transit summit of local leaders reads. “They are not in competition with one another, rather they are completely complementary.”

Several modes of transportation including commuter rail and express buses are being considered in the regional plan. Buses and trains would work in conjunction with the light rail, so riders could go between the regional system and Kansas City’s light rail.

“We are also committed to coordinating closely with Kansas City, Missouri, in their efforts to plan and build a light-rail starter line as an integral piece of an expanded regional transit system,” the MARC presentation says.

The issue of light rail has been a contentious issue in Kansas City since it was introduced several years ago. But recent polls have shown respondents in the city favor the three-eighths cent sales tax for the 12-mile light-rail route.

The proposed route more than likely will be tweaked, and public hearings will be held to fill in all the details.

Clay Chastain, a transit activist, got a $1 billion ballot measure passed in Kansas City in November 2006. His proposed route would have run from Kansas City International Airport to Swope Park, and would be paid for by renewal of a three-eighth cent sales tax that supports the bus system.

However, the council rejected the proposal after review and repealed the ballot measure in early November 2007.